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They compared their results to an annual national survey collected on a random sample of adults. Compared to intraracial marriages, individuals in interracial marriages had achieved slightly higher levels of education, yet had lower family income. In addition, individuals in cross-race marriages tended to have married at an older age and have fewer children than individuals in same-race marriages. Nonracial factors played a much larger role in spouse selection for the interracially married sample than racial factors. Overall, racial factors played a nominal role in choosing a spouse.
Out of the racial factors, the most influential characteristics were the sexual attraction of someone from another race However, out of individuals who had not dated outside their race prior to marrying a cross-race spouse, a significantly smaller percentage reported sexual attractiveness of other races and ease of talking to people of other races as very important or important in their spouse selection process.
Defending the color line: Racially and ethnically motivated hate crimes. American Behavioral Scientist, 46, Perry reviews literature, statistics, and the popular media to examine motivations for race-based hate crimes.
Perry reports that non-Caucasians are at the greatest risk for hate crime victimization when they engage in interracial romantic relationships. Cross-race romantic relationships are a visible violation of anti-miscegenation norms. In particular, African-American male-Caucasian female pairings appear to be the least socially acceptable.
Drawing from interviews with American high school students, Perry explains that interracial relationships threaten Caucasian males' access to Caucasian women. Attempts to regulate interracial relationships by Caucasian males also imply that Caucasian women are viewed as the property of Caucasian males.
All-in-all, increased risk of hate crime victimization for non-Caucasians in interracial relationships presents a barrier to the formation or maintenance of cross-race relationships, because the risk might scare individuals away from interracial relationships.
These tolerant treatments have arisen through mechanisms like the media, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and supportive leadership. All in all, while most Americans espouse an egalitarian ideology Katz, , social attitudes towards interracial relationships remain less accepting than intergroup attitudes, as a whole. Acceptance of interracial dating Hypothesis 4: Respondents' perceived their families were not very accepting of interracial friendships or romantic relationships. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 20,
From miscegenation to multiculturalism: Perceptions and stages of interracial relationship development. Journal of Black Studies, 29, Foeman and Nance review literature on interracial marriage to construct a model of the development of interracial romantic relationships.
They contend that maintenance of cross-race relationships involves the successful management of four stages: The authors conclude that the successful navigation of these stages yields a happy, self-sustaining cross-race relationship with the same intimacy and adjustment as same-race relationships. The literature on characteristics of children's cross-race friendships has revealed that interracial friendships appear to be less stable and less intimate than same-race friendships.
However, there are many caveats to these findings. In addition, although cross-race friendships were found to be less intimate, they were still equally characterized by helping behaviors, emotional security, and positive affections. Therefore, while there seem to be more barriers towards cross-race friendships in terms of general relationships stability and intimacy, once those barriers are crossed, interracial friendships provide equal, positive environments that foster less racial bias as well as other benefits, discussed later Click here to go to the Benefits section.
Cross-race peer relations and friendship quality. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 27, The authors interviewed elementary school children to examine characteristics of cross-race friendship. Cross-race friendships were less likely in the older students than the younger, with Caucasian boys being the least likely to have cross-race friends.
Fewer interracial friendships were stable than same-race friendships, and cross-race friends were less likely to be added over the course of the school year. In terms of friendship quality, same-race friendships were more intimate than cross-race ones. However, there was no difference between cross- and same-race friendships for helping behaviors, emotional security, or positive affection.
High quality interracial friendship was associated with less racial bias. The authors conclude that cross-race friendship can be true "equal status relationships," providing mutual social and emotional support. Friendship similarity during early adolescence: Gender and racial patterns. Journal of Psychology, , Both cross-race and Caucasian same-race friends were more similar to each other on mental alertness and less similar on personality characteristics that predict school achievement than African-American same-race friends.
Caucasian same-race friends were more similar on verbal achievement than cross-race or African-American same-race friends. Overall, cross-race friendship nominations were less reciprocated e. The stability of students' interracial friendships. American Sociological Review, 52, Hallinan and Williams examined the stability of interracial friendships through the use of a longitudinal data set collected on 4 th through 7 th graders six times throughout one school year. All friendships, regardless of racial composition, were likely to endure for at least six weeks, and most lasted past the final assessment period.
Same-race friendships were more likely than cross-race friendships to last longer than six weeks, with cross-race friendships identified by African-American students having the greatest risk of dissolving from one assessment point to the next. African-American students who identified Caucasian students as their "best friend" were the least likely to be labeled as a "best friend" by the Caucasian student they named.
However, Caucasian students who named an African-American student as their "best friend" were just as likely as students who named a same-race student to have that election reciprocated. Classrooms with higher proportions of African-American students had more stable interracial friendships.
In terms of characteristics of adult cross-race relationships, most of the literature has focused on romantic relationships. However, results from a large, nationally representative survey revealed that American adults' cross-race friendships were similar to children's cross-race friendships.
In general, interracial relationships were less stable, but when there was a high —proportion of cross-race others in an individual's social network, cross- and same-race relationships exhibited similar levels of stability. There has not been much research on the characteristics of these friendships, but extrapolation from children's cross-race friendships implies that adult's cross-race friendships should be similar to their same-race friendships in terms of helping behaviors and positive regard, and that high-quality interracial friendships should yield more positive racial attitudes.
Differences in social difference: Examining third party effects on relational stability. Social Networks, 20, Reagans analyzed data on Americans' social networks collected in a large, national survey.
It appears that if a respondent has only one cross-race relationship, that relationship is more likely to have been formed recently than if a respondent has two or more cross-race relationships. Similarly, relationships with cross-race individuals were more likely to end prematurely than same-race relationships if the cross-race individual was a racial isolate in the respondent's social network. Reagans concludes that interracial relationships tend to end sooner than same-race relationships if the cross-race individual is a racial isolate, but not if the cross-race individual is one of a few cross-race friends.
What are the characteristics of adult cross-race romantic relationships? General social beliefs towards interracial relationships dictate they are problematic and dysfunctional Davidson, ; Pope, The results indicate that interracial romantic relationships are actually quite rewarding, contrary to popular myth.
All in all, there has been little to no support for the propositions that interracial relationships are inherently bad and dysfunctional. Interracial relationships appear to be as rewarding and cooperative as same-race romantic relationships. Romanticism and interpersonal resource exchange among African American-Anglo and other interracial couples. Journal of Black Psychology, 25, The authors surveyed interracial married couples to examine exchange of affection and respect in interracial marriages.
The interracial couples had significant levels of affection and respect exchange. The authors conclude there is no evidence of relationships dysfunctionality for cross-race couples. In addition, composition of the union e. Caucasian male-African-American female did not alter its success. The authors examined patterns of attachment style and responses to accommodative dilemmas e. Securely attached individuals reported less destructive behavior in response to a partner's negative behavior than insecurely attached individuals. The authors conclude that interracial couples "possess the ability to trust and form enduring socio-emotional bonds with their partners," and act in the interest of preserving the relationship.
Perspectives on interracial relationships. Theory, research and interventions 2nd ed. Gaines and Ickes term most scientific approaches towards studying interracial relationships as "outsiders'" accounts of cross-race relationships. They argue that societal biases pervade the interracial relationships literature because most theorists tend to collect "objective" data on cross-race relationships without ever asking members of interracial relationships what their experiences actually are. For example, in terms of interracial romantic relationships, past theorists have determined the draw of "forbidden fruit" is the primary motivation for entering into a cross-race relationship.
However, members of cross-race relationships tend to anecdotally report that they feel they have more in common with their partner personality-wise than they don't have in common demographic-wise. In addition, individuals involved in interracial romantic relationships report they value each other's differences as providing novelty and contributing to self-expansion. The authors conclude their chapter with a discussion on the resolution between the "outsiders'" and "insiders'" perspectives. The resolution of this conflict is vital for the success of an interracial relationship, and their conclusions on this subject are discussed in more detail in the interracial relationships maintenance section, below.
Overall, minorities appear to be more accepting of interracial relationships than Caucasian-Americans. This is evidenced by larger proportions of minorities involved in interracial relationships than Caucasian-Americans U. Social attitudes about interracial relationships are important, particularly because fear of social reprisal may be a sufficient deterrent for initiating interracial relationships.
Social attitudes also are important from a legislative perspective. Given that juries are supposed to be representative of local populations, attributions of guilt in criminal situations should be studied for systematic differences.
A set of studies into attributions of guilt in domestic violence situations found that respondents assigned more blame to the victim when she was an African-American and particularly if she had been drinking alcohol. In addition, when the abuse occurred in an interracial relationship, more blame was assigned to African-American males than Caucasian-American males.
These findings imply that African-American females in interracial relationships may be most at risk for not receiving the legal and social services they need. The findings concerning the differing interracial attitudes between the sexes have been quite mixed, where some findings report no differences, some studies report women have less tolerant attitudes, and other studies report women are more accepting of interracial relationships. Regardless of the finding, the corresponding authors managed to come up with a logical explanation for each contradictory result.
All in all, while most Americans espouse an egalitarian ideology Katz, , social attitudes towards interracial relationships remain less accepting than intergroup attitudes, as a whole.